However,
operators and tonnage providers are shifting their focus to mid-sized vessels
of 8,000 to 17,000 TEUs, rather than the megamax ships commissioned during the
Covid-19-induced boom.
Year-to-date, 64 boxships of 543,500
TEUs have been ordered, as the resurgent freight market and stricter
environmental regulations have made market players renew their fleets.
The
largest ships ordered this year are four compact neo-panamax 14,170 TEU units
that the German tonnage provider Peter Döhle commissioned at Hudong-Zhonghua
Shipbuilding. The vessels are expected to be on long-term charter to
Dubai-based Emirates Shipping Line. Taiwanese regional carrier TS Lines has
recently contracted a pair of 14,000 TEU ships at Shanghai Waigaoqiao
Shipbuilding as it considers another shot at long-haul routes.
Alphaliner
noted, “The ordering frenzy is not over
yet……More orders from the main carriers are expected in the second half of
the year as newbuilding brokers hint at ongoing talks with shipyards for orders
for up to a hundred ships, with many of them in the 8,000 to 17,000 TEU size
range.”
Operators
and tonnage providers have not been daunted by deliveries being twice to thrice
more than in 2023 to 2025, as well as newbuilding prices being 5% to 10% higher
year-on-year.
A second
observation to be made is that the new orders are not exclusively ‘green’
ships. Thirty of the newbuildings ordered this year are equipped with dual fuel
engines, of which 24 have methanol propulsion and six are LNG-powered.
Not including four small hybrid
newbuildings with batteries, 30 of the orders to date are conventionally
powered, with 14 of them described as methanol-ready.